Qualitative Research in the 21st Century
Semiotics of art
An heretical approach
Luigi Toiati
Abstract
Artistic phenomena/ads represent a potential product, a value that becomes a commodity at the time of its “use”. We therefore intend to analyze artistic products by using semiotics in an area it was previously seldom applied to: this approach will help us understand how Art can also be regarded as an appealing and ethically marketable product. This kind of approach may be renamed: Semiotics of Art.
We will experiment a comparative analysis of both Art and advertising, in order to allow qualitative researcher to add a new tool to his/her kit, useful for future performances either on anlysing Art as a social phenomenon, and advertising as an artistic expression.
This is a purely experimental exercise, unrelated to any job commissioned by clients and therefore allowing us more scope for conducting our experiment.
This technique may prove its worth in studies where it is important to consider sociological, anthropological or cultural issues in relation to expressions of human creativity – not least advertising, which for years has been attempting to gain recognition and establish its identity as a category of artistic expression.
For a researcher the semiotics of art is a technique that lets him examine on his own familiar ground a context that might otherwise prove hard to unravel. It will provide him with information and motivations as to potential users’ response when offered this or that artistic product to enjoy during their leisure.
A work of art can be analyzed using a system of signs and correspondences: this will be done on an experimental basis comparing Art and advertising.
Through this practical experiment, we shall come up with indications about how to use the Semiotics of Art for research purposes. Our goal will be to identify and position the artistic phenomena that best fit users’ expectations, so the arts, but the ads too, may be a source of leisure time pleasure. In other words, not “consumption” along throw-away lines but enjoyment that also paves the way to increased aesthetic and cultural appreciation in society at large.
Luigi Toiati
Focus, Italy
Luigi Toiati, co-founder and chairman of Focus SrL, Italy, is an internationally recognized qualitative marketing research consultant. His experience includes mass market, advertising, health and beauty, consumers products and food products. He counts amongst his clients: Procter & Gamble, IBM, Major Advertising Agencies (Saatchi & Saatchi, BGS D’Arcy, Publicis), Cartier, Wrangler, and many more.
Luigi is the Winner of AQR 2002 Prosper Riley Smith Award for the most innovative qualitative technique of the year, consisting in his “Tao Collage”, a semiotic grid to decode collages.
Prior to founding Focus SrL, Luigi served as qualitative consultant at ASM, Market Dynamics, RQ, Pragma, Mesomark. He also earned a degree in Sociology at Rome University, with a specialization in urban sociology. He taught urban sociology at the Architectural and Planning department at the same university. He also works as a sociologist in the Italian National Health Service, where he specialized in mental illness specifically consulting on synaesthesia in the elderly.
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